How to ACTUALLY FIX a CRACKED Engine Block! Cast Iron Crack Repair

Today I use metal stitching pins to fix a crack in my engine block near the freeze/core plug with no welding. I'm currently rebuilding the 1FZ-FE engine out of my 80 Series Land Cruiser and this had to be fixed before I can assemble the bottom end. Metal stitching is one of the few ways to repair cast iron and these Lock-N-Stitch pins can actually draw the sides of the crack together. Pretty cool product!
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[@RM_Garage]

If you noticed, I missed the tail end of the crack at 10:27. That has since been stitched.

[@TheMakyato]

im not a mechanic same situation , what i did was glueit with 1,5 kg of jbweld , with the engine on the car , never had a problem

[@Ron_Masterjohn]

@@TheMakyatowas your crack from water freezing in the engine?

[@TheMakyato]

@@Ron_Masterjohn no , it happen when i was living in israel and they do not have "winter" i think the car overheat and some failure in the block engine also a month before that i have a blown head gasket + the real isue .............bad thermostat and bad cooling radiator first signal knocking in the engine follow by power reduction and engine stop , let it cool restart and bit by bit the car manage to get me home it was not jbweld but similar glue

[@Ghostrider-71]

Looks great, excellent job. Thank you for posting.

[@anteneupitra]

ths not the way of doit.

[@meganfoley4123]

Looks solid! 😊

[@jaybird836]

Oh seen you did stich it fully excellent work air

[@2strokelover93]

Nicely done ❤

[@Solvefunction]

Awesome work!

[@RM_Garage]

Thanks Lee!

[@2strokelover93]

Hey heads up always use a smaller pilot bit to find center a little easier.

[@jaybird836]

Nice video I would followed it through with freeze plug bore look at from customer client pro view ,nice work ☺️

[@poortouringhotwiregarage5617]

The owner of the engine machine shop I used to work at "pinned" cracks in engine blocks and cylinder heads all of the time with zero issues, but he also used red Loctite on the threads

[@RM_Garage]

Nice! I used the loctite in the video at the advice of my local machine shop. Engine runs now with no leaks!

[@MrCbell57]

@@RM_Garagefrom expert suggestion’s. Never use a lock tight. It cannot handle the heat expansion. They make special and spacific sealers for iron repairs when stitching cracks. Other than that you did fine.

[@femo66]

@@RM_GarageHello there, thanks a lot for the Video. I have a cracked engine block, which i need to repair and i was wondering if your stich is still tight and fine !? Could you update ? Maybe also with mileage since repair ? Thanks in advance !

[@BillyGoatsAdventures]

Nice! I did a new plug and some jb weld on my 1fz hairline crack. It held for a few thousand miles but she's still weeping. She's running great but the hairline crack was why I was planning on getting a new Factory Short block, your build has me thinking though that bore over sounds sweet. I like your comment about block seal, I've been thinking about calling bars stop leaking asking him what product I should use for that hairline crack. I think I would bypass both my heater cores and swap out my brand new Toyota radiator for the old one run it for the specified time to seal it and then switch everything back with fresh coolant.

[@RM_Garage]

Yeah it needs to be jb welded from the back side. The coolant pressure will cause it to leak again over time. The machine shop recommended block seal, stitching pins (as I did), or both.

[@BillyGoatsAdventures]

@@RM_Garage yup, that's what happened, I need to add some bars stop leak to my 80 series to do list.

[@crashedking1931]

What year is yours?

[@RM_Garage]

@@crashedking1931 1993

[@BillyGoatsAdventures]

@@crashedking1931 mine is a 1997, I just picked up my new factory short block, I'm going to build a new motor, I'm not in a hurry though with the work I did on the original 1fz.

[@NigelNaughton]

Mine better not ever leak but if it does then it's either let it leak or do a LS swap! 😁

[@stevedexel5929]

A less expensive and easier fix is to drill a 1/16" hole on each end of the crack. Create a v groove at the crack line. Do not use JB Weld. The best product is windshield adhesive. It stays flexible and will not crack out.

[@davidp130]

Watched this video....ran outside and stuck my head under the hood of my fzj looking for cracks. 😬. Nice job with the fix

[@RM_Garage]

Thanks! It’s actually common on the early motors I guess! Whole thread on ih8mud about it. 4 pages long

[@davidp130]

@@RM_Garage I've read that thread and mine is a 96 but still makes you worry a bit. Good to know there's a fix

[@LOCKNSTITCH]

@@davidp130 if you ever find you need the fix let us know - we will set you up with everything you need!

[@burnside9]

Nice job. How deep are the holes

[@jaredwike8584]

What block sealer did you go with ?

[@986C]

Someone had kids lol. I caught the Doozers quote.

[@RM_Garage]

You’ll have to enlighten me because I don’t have kids and had to google “Doozers” lol. What did I say?

[@986C]

Ah, I have three and their catch phrase is - there’s nothing to it but to do do do it. My little girls are always saying it. Anyway - carry on please not relevant. Great content by the way, I have a LC and the are special vehicles worth the effort to keep running. Good to see someone treat these with such respect. They are special cars.

[@Ron_Masterjohn]

Do you know if water freeze in this block causing the crack?

[@crashedking1931]

That's ridicules cant believe that's the only way to fix that. So the 2 drill spots on the block before you started that was done to hopefully stop or relive the crack right. Mine is not leaking but it sure seems to be an common occurrence. My motor probably has 250K on it and I have done the timing chain and lower upper pans while it was in the truck. But I want to install a turbo on my engine but did not want to just slap it on there. I wanted to refresh the motor first. I use my truck mostly off road and looking for maybe 15-20% power increase. I know Im at a point to where it might make more since to repower but that motor can run forever compared to others. Thanks for the video. Really ease to watch your work nicely presented.

[@RM_Garage]

If you have a later model 1FZ you probably don't have to worry about it. I've noticed it's mostly an early 1FZ thing.

[@crashedking1931]

@@RM_Garage 10-4 so what do you think about the refresh before turbo.

[@ElectronicMechanic50]

I did this on my 390 lock and stitch is awesome

[@RM_Garage]

I pulled the trigger BECAUSE of your video!

[@ElectronicMechanic50]

@@RM_Garage That's great! Your video is better than mine lol I was just getting started when I did that video!

[@LOCKNSTITCH]

@ElectronicMechanic so glad to hear the products worked great for you too! Had to come back to edit this comment - THANK YOU again! You did have such an incredible video posted.

[@LOCKNSTITCH]

@@RM_Garage Now THIS is awesome to hear! Thank you RM Garage for your incredible video using our products - sorry it took us so long to see it!

[@RM_Garage]

No problem! It works great and the engine is running leak/crack free

[@michaelpeterson4348]

I swear, I saw that cracked extend a little further down than the very bottom pin…. I think another two pens would’ve been perfect at the bottom… all in all, though you did a good job !

[@RM_Garage]

You absolutely did! And I extended it after the video. I noticed it too.

[@aerialrescuesolutions3277]

Nice work. I was not aware of these stitch pins, although I would have been if faced with this. I would strongly advise against using block seal, it may get into the heater core and or gum up the thermostat? I may be confusing this with stop leak though? Nice work, and great editing as usual. Thank you, Jim, the 22R happy truck person.

[@RM_Garage]

Thanks Jim! I wasn’t aware previous to my issue either. Maybe you’re confusing it with stop leak? The machine shop said there are modern block sealers that do a very good job. I guess we will see if it even leaks anymore first.

[@aerialrescuesolutions3277]

@@RM_Garage I'm not familiar with block seal then. Maybe it's something that's applied to the block before it's running to coat the metal? I will inquire about this today. Jim

[@user-ze6wm8jy5c]

Does this work in aluminium?

[@liamking524]

Where did you buy the pins from for the video repairing the block?

[@RM_Garage]

I got lucky. The machine shop let me borrow their kit. The kit is from lock-n-stitch.

[@alexboesen5985]

Question: @10:00 you peen the surface with a socket extension. Leaving aside the use of a socket extension as a peening tool... did the kit recommend peening? My first reaction is that it might stress the stitch pin threads or risk loosening their grip on the block or cause cracks in the threads themselves. Understand you report the block's not weeping, which is good.

[@RM_Garage]

It did recommend it, yeah. I just used what I had and it seemed to work.

[@puppygadget3189]

Just started video and in case you don’t say was wondering if the block cracked from water freezing in the block?

[@RM_Garage]

I don’t think it was from that since it was a California vehicle its whole life. I think the early blocks are susceptible to those cracks, maybe due to thickness differences in the casting in that area or something - not sure.

[@spilios_o_gerbesiotis]

I want to ask if this as a repair lasts permanently or after some time it will crack somewhere else? is there a warranty on this can anyone tell us? Thanks in advance

[@puppygadget3189]

Might be a good idea to remove all the wad-40 and oils and go over in metal expoxy

[@RM_Garage]

I did this off camera!

[@pekerjalepas2778]

what do you think about jb weld for repair the same problem as yours?

[@RM_Garage]

I don't think it would hold the pressure.

[@falcon9282]

I bought belzona 111

[@zdravkomomci7570]

@@RM_Garage I think Jbweld would if you cut a v channel along the crack for it to have depth in adhesion

[@hunterbachrach596]

@@falcon9282 did it hold??

[@femo66]

@@falcon9282and…did it work ?

[@shadowhokage2852]

Is it hard to get a quote from lock N stitch?

[@RM_Garage]

Honestly the company has a difficult online process. It’s not as easy as just ordering the pins. You have to contact them and give details about the engine, thickness of the block, etc etc. then they give you a quote.

[@DMD81773]

Essentially

[@lbossstatus35]

No metal shavings will fall inside after you drill ?

[@RM_Garage]

A little, but flipped it over and blew it out with a compressor

[@michaelneuman6910]

Did it hold?

[@RM_Garage]

Yep!

[@michaelneuman6910]

@@RM_Garage I think I am going to give it a try.

[@RM_Garage]

@@michaelneuman6910 Many are skeptical but this is a tool designed to fix cracked engine blocks and it's what machine shops recommended me to do. The other option was spray welding.

[@michaelneuman6910]

I am trying to get a kit ordered from lock and stitch and they are asking about thickness of my block. Is that important?

[@RM_Garage]

@@michaelneuman6910 Yeah. You need to figure that stuff out.

[@deanstevenson6527]

🥝✔️

[@TC-ge3pt]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqKTqJmLab-Ugc0 if you want to see how the manufacturer installs these

[@LOCKNSTITCH]

Thanks T C!

[@stormracer05]

Why not braze it? it's already stripped down.

[@RM_Garage]

I did what the machine shop recommended I do, which was stitching.

[@femo66]

apparently stitching is batter than brazing it ?

[@Venom-nk8nd]

🇵🇬🇵🇬,,

[@mikeclement5383]

Nickel rod and a stick welder. Stitch and peen.